[lg policy] Switzerland: Politicians accused of doublespeak on languages

[Harold Schiffman]

Politicians accused of doublespeak on languages


21.06.2007
National languages get priority over English

Swiss politicians fail to recognise the value of multilingualism when
the languages spoken are not the national tongues or English. That is
one of the key findings of a National Science Foundation study looking
at political debates on language issues over the past five decades.
>>From the 1960s until the 1990s, discussions in parliament focussed on
ensuring equality among the official languages, German, French,
Italian and Romansh, as well as dialogue between the language groups.
Politicians also expressed support for courses offered to immigrants
in their own languages to help their reintegration back into society
if they were to return to their homeland, as they were expected to do
at the time.

A turning point came in the second half of the 1990s, according to
authors Damir Skenderovic and Christina Späti of Fribourg University’s
Contemporary History department.
This is when English – due to globalisation - became part of the
debate on languages. One question was whether it should be taught in
schools as the first foreign language ahead of German, French or
Italian.

Stay, not go
At the same time, political parties, confronted with the realisation
that immigrants were staying and not going home, began to emphasise
the importance of learning an official language as part of the
integration process. This came at the expense of immigrants’ mother
tongues. “It was no longer necessary for them to know their own
languages. It was even considered harmful for them to know a second
language, since it went against integration into a homogenous
society,” Skenderovic told swissinfo.ch, summing up the tenor of the
political debate.

Späti says politicians have ignored the fact that Switzerland has
become a land of immigration with ten per cent of the population
claiming a language other than German, French or Italian as their
mother tongue. The authors argue in their conclusions that the ability
to speak non-official languages should be valued, as is the case in
Canada, where Späti also scrutinised political debate.

" The importance for schoolchildren to retain their mother tongue has
been recognised. "  Simone Prodolliet, Migration Issues commission
Arabic “For example, languages such as Chinese and Arabic are more
highly appreciated [than they are in Switzerland]. They are seen as
economic assets, whereas in Switzerland that’s only the case with
English,” Späti explained. Skenderovic says pressure on immigrants to
learn a national language shortly after they arrive in the country -
without recognition of the importance of their own language - shows
that many politicians do not want to stop at integration, but want to
see foreigners completely assimilated.

However, Simone Prodolliet, director of the Federal Commission for
Migration Issues, says the reality on the ground often differs greatly
from the public debate. Prodolliet told swissinfo.ch that a lot of
pilot projects have been initiated across the country to encourage
children to learn the local language as well as the one spoken by
their parents.
“The importance for schoolchildren to retain their mother tongue has
been recognised. The command of that language is a precondition for
learning other languages well,” she says.




A-B-C
“Teachers are making efforts to acknowledge children’s mother tongues
but that doesn’t mean lessons are taught in Turkish, for example.”
Prodolliet admits that barely a word is spoken in favour of
non-national languages at the political level, and agrees that fluency
in these languages should be recognised as an additional
qualification. At the very least, the National Science Foundation
study makes a case for broadening the language debate. “In Switzerland
a lot more people speak Croatian or Serbian than Romansh. Would it be
a threat to Romansh if we gave more rights to migration languages, or
would it perhaps have a positive effect if we generally agree that
Switzerland is a multilingual country and give rights to minority
languages?” asks Späti.

Dale Bechtel, swissinfo.ch

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/index/Politicians_accused_of_doublespeak_on_languages.html?cid=7924416
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